The mass shooting in Orlando has taken at least 50 lives and over 50 more people are still fighting to survive in area hospitals.
You can make a difference.
Equality Florida, an LGBT civil rights organization has opened up a GoFundMe page to raise money to support the victims of the attack.
From the group:
“We are reeling from the tragic news that a gunman opened fire on the 2am capacity crowd at Pulse leaving 50 people dead and over 50 injured according to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.
We are heartbroken and angry that senseless violence has once again destroyed lives in our state and in our country.
Gay clubs hold a significant place in LGBTQ history. They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety. June commemorates our community standing up to anti-LGBTQ violence at the Stonewall Inn, the nightclub that has become the first LGBTQ site recognized as a national monument.
We have received a steady stream of emails and messages from those seeking to help or to make sense of the senseless. We make no assumptions on motive. We will await the details in tears of sadness and anger. We stand in solidarity and keep our thoughts on all whose lives have been lost or altered forever in this tragedy.”
As of 12:00 PM EST, over $21,000 has been raised out of a goal of $100,000.
Cover Photo Credit: Tim Evanson/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Guy Sings National Anthem On Bizarre Trump Float At Coconut Grove Gas Station
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WATCH: Gun Control Group Marches In Wynwood With Victims Of Gun Violence
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Shooting Near Syracuse University Kills At Least One Person, Campus No Longer Locked Down
By Aaron Sortal
UPDATED at 12:45 AM, October 15 with student reaction
SYRAC– — USE, NY-Syracuse University was locked down for an extended period earlier this evening after a shooting took place near the campus. The University is no longer under the lock down as local authorities scramble to get a handle on the full extent of the situation.
At 8:29 PM, Syracuse University students received an email, followed by a phone call, from the Department of Public Safety to say indoors and not let anyone into their homes or dorms. What caused the closings was a homicide on Hope Avenue, a street close to the University campus.
A shooter was then thought to go into Oakwood Cemetery, at which point the University was put on lock down.
One person was killed and at least one other wondered in the shooting.
According to Alexa Torrens’s story in the Daily Orange:
“At about 9 p.m., a Syracuse police officer said it is believed at least one person is armed near Oakwood Cemetery, though the officers on the scene are unsure how many people total are in the area.”
Oakwood Cemetery is located directly behind Syracuse University with ESF, Day and Flint Halls closest to the scene.
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), located on Syracuse’s campus went into lockdown.
Students in Flint Hall were told to “turn their lights off”, according to the Daily Orange.
Other buildings were then encouraged to go into lockdown.
At 10:37 PM, students received an email from Department of Safety to “Be advised the emergency no longer exists and it is clear to resume normal activity. Continue to be diligent and report any suspicious activity.”
Currently it is unclear if the suspects involved were Syracuse students or had any connection to the university’s community.
Students Recount Confusion As Campus Became Aware Of Shooting
At 8:30 PM, Ellen Greene, an undeclared freshman from Massena, NY, was working the desk at Manley Field House, an athletic center near Oakwood Cemetery. It was there that she received the news that the campus was on high-alert.
Greene first didn’t think anything of it until her boss came over and moved her to an area with the rest of the students. “They seemed prepared for the situation,” Greene said of the reaction, which made her feel safe.
Watch: Video From Inside The S.I. Newhouse School of Communication During Lockdown
Across campus, there was miscommunication about what was happening.
Gabriela Robles, a freshman Public Relations major from Queens, New York, was locked in a classroom inside the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
The Syracuse Department of Public Safety (DPS) never called an official campus-wide lockdown, but they placed certain buildings on specific lockdown, for example, Flint Hall and Day Hall located closest to the scene were locked down.
Newhouse was far from the situation, but students inside experienced the miscommunication.
Robles said that Newhouse was “locked in”, meaning that no one could get in but they could leave. Students were then moved to a large space- the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium, with the rest of the people in the building.
Robles said that students were told they were encouraged to stay in certain areas, but were also told they could leave.
“No one knew what to do,” Robles said. “So they just stayed put.”
Watch: Live student TV broadcast coverage of the developing situation
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Cover Photo Credit: NewsChannel 9/ Twitter
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Abuela Mami: The Startup That Is Bringing Homesick Cubans Back To Their Roots One Box At A Time
Have you ever felt homesick for South Florida?
I mean like really homesick? So much so that you day dream about the food found on Calle Ocho or in your grandmother’s kitchen?
Well, if you’ve ever felt that before, then you are not alone.
It was that feeling that helped create Abuela Mami, a Miami based food startup.
Humby Valdes, 40, grew up in Miami as a first generation Cuban- American.
He spoke Spanish at home and was raised with all of the Cuban culture comforts.
It was only 5 or 6 years ago that he went to work in New York and for the first time he felt he was away from Miami and from the tastes that helped make home for him.
In New York, he realized that things like some Cuban dishes (i.e pastelitos, guava, Cuban crackers) where hard to find. It was even hard to find Cuban Coffee.
“When you live in Miami you just get Cuban coffee everywhere,” Valdes said in an interview with RISE NEWS.
Valdes found himself constantly missing food and all of other Cuban goodies from Miami.
He thought it was a good idea to create a box full of Cuban goodies that could be delivered around the United States.
His mom and grandmother used to do something similar.
In December 2015, he got together with his brother Kiki Valdes, 35 and launched Abuela Mami.
In Spanish, Abuela means grandmother and Mami stands for mom, the origin of the name comes from Humby’s and Kikis grandmother Blanca del Rio and their mom Gladys Ferrer.
Abuela Mami’s purpose is for their costumers to have an emotional connection when they open their monthly box of Cuban treats.
You can also make one time purchases of either the Coffee Box ($25.95) or the Surprise Box ($19.99).
The most popular subscription is for the Surprise Box, which is just as it sounds.
Each box contains 4 to 9 items of handpicked Cuban culture goodies.
Boxes can include kitchen tools, games, snacks, sweets and coffee among other interesting things.
Abuela Mami is based in Miami and all of the products also come from Miami area suppliers.
With a little help from their 90 year old grandmother, the brothers ensure that the Surprise box is always a unique and intimate Cuban experience.
As it is still a growing business, Humby Valdes insists on the importance of making each box “as intimate as possible”, while making “sure that when people receive the box it comes straight from Miami, something that is coming straight from Cubans or Cubans Americans”.
“The connection that the subscription box has with family, the emotion that it gives to costumers it’s amazing, it is very humbling to be able to make people feel and connect to heritage and family”.
In the future the founders have been thinking of expanding the Surprise Box in a way so they can deliver boxes from other Latin American countries (i.e Colombia or Venezuela),yet for the moment they are focused only on Cuban cultural selections.
Humby Valdes also has some advice for young people who move away from their home.
“They [young people] are going to miss it and realize your mom and mother are not going to be there forever, [so] enjoy your family and heritage.”
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Photo Credits: Abuela Mami
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